Sunday, September 22, 2013

P051: Cabeza de Vaca – Japanese techno

First up we should give a bit of attention
to Shin Nishimura who is the label boss behind Plus who have released a lot of
12”s and albums by Japanese artists since 2004. Today we highlight their most
recent 12” by Takaaki Itoh, but previous artists have included Nishimura
himself, Hiroyuki Arakawa, Nobuyuki Tokunaga, Fumihiko Takei and more. Clearly
by name and sound there is a big influence from M_nus, but overall there is a
lot more toughness than M_nus bringing it closer to the likes of Drum Code and
the like. It is no surprise to find Adam Beyer as a big supporter.

More good news is that Iori who lcoses the
show also has a new release out this week on Prologue, a 3-track vinyl 12” and
6 digital tracks called “Antimonit”. Definitely one to keep an eye on. His
remix of Wata Igarahi’s track “Paranoid” will probably come up in a few weeks
in a dub techno show.

Go Hiyama also has something out on Warm Up
Records that is more recent than his Token track, but in order to spread the
love around we went with the older track. He is perhaps one of the more
recognisable names from the Japanese scene having released on some big labels
like Warm Up, with remixes from Oscar Mulero, as well as Stroboscopic
Artefacts. Hiyama-san has also just done a recent mix for the Pole Group radio
series.

He too will have another new release out on
HueHelix, another Japanese label coming to the fore with a lot of interesting
artists and releases. This week on the show we play something from Ryuji Takeuchi.

Of the new comers, Yuuki Sakai has a
promising and intense sound that is dark and sonerous, in keeping with one
label where he has released, as well as “tribal inudustrial” as he describes on
his Soundcloud page. His latest EP, the first digital release for Warm Up
Records, is a brutal affair, maybe better for the club than home, but the epic
10 minute track “Picasso” is certainly persuasive by force. His other work
carries the same violent core, but is less aggressive.

Next week we finish off the Japanese
electronica series with some IDM!